I believe there is also a bias to this culture when recruiting too, this culture then reflects on to the ways all other departments are managed. Although maybe not direct, think this is one of the factors that is influencing to the choice of leadership model used here. Every staff member has a strong influence on any operational decision. This is like a ‘l CONSULT leadership style. A strong factor is Health ; Safety and other policies and procedures authorities have put in place for leisure and hospitality businesses.
On any given day or night there is around 100-200 employees and 500-1000 guests and visitors in the building. Therefore, as managers, we have to make sure all legislations and procedures are fully adhered to. Risk assessments for fire safety, manual handling ; lifting, use of hand tools and chemicals are some examples of legislation that will be in place before any task is carried out. The importance to adhere to these is also continuously communicated to all employees via regular training sessions.
They are set in stone and failure to follow them can result in dismissals or even prosecution. Although it might not be a leadership style a company will choose to use, I believe this factor forces the ‘TELL’ leadership style to be put into From the above, we can see that ‘Attainment and Schmidt’ is the practice. Used leadership model. The below picture shows how moving across the arrow direction can change the character of this model. Looking at this model above, we can relate to some examples at our workplace which also refers to how the style is characterized.
All managers and supervisors are involved in big operational decisions, especially when faced with a crisis or for upcoming big events that will affect business levels. We also have regular project and green team meetings where everyone shares their ideas to aka changes to the working environment and running of the business. Looking at the scale from the picture, this reflects a ‘Laissez-fairer’ style characterized by an ‘l Share’ and/or ‘Hands-off philosophy. However, an ‘Autocratic’ approach is taken when an accident occurs and a manager may need to take control to ensure a prompt and co-ordinate response.
Again the style is characterized by an ‘l tell’ and/or ‘l sell’ philosophy. This leadership model can have many positive and negative effects on individual or even group behavior. Let’s say we have a regular hot water issue and we give two sub-ordinate’s the responsibility ND freedom to identify the problem, to assess and evaluate the implications of the process to resolve it and then implement a course of action to fix the on- going issue, while the manager was not part of any of these discussions(‘Hands- off).
If a disaster like a total loss of hot water in the hotel was the outcome of this whole process, the manager will be accountable for this tragedy, while the two individuals will also get credit for all success if the process was all to go smoothly and be resolved. A success is always great motivation to all but could also be the most disastrous when things go wrong. Again, referring to the ‘Attainment and Schmidt’ model pictured above I strongly see myself as an democratic’ leader. An be with my own team stuck in an emergency situation or preparing for an office refurbishment project and even with other colleges from other departments on daily updates or in other meetings, I have noticed my approach has always been democratic. Having this approach is greatly helping me with my relationships with other managers as I can see a similar management culture all-round the organization. However, I witness myself getting annoyed and frustrated to work with one particular department s it is clear that from top to bottom the department has an ‘autocratic’ style in any type of work behavior and communication with me.
Seen the positive behaviors of colleges in department’s using a democratic approach makes it clear to me to keep and even improve on my current leadership style. Feedback from employees during informal job chats are also positive and they all seem relaxed and free to share this information with me. I have recently prepared packs with 7 questionnaires/surveys and passed them on to every employee and manager in my department to receive formal feedback about my management kills and style. The pack also included a questionnaire about their learning style. Hen used the feedback and wrote myself a mission statement that now refer to during departmental meetings and appraisals. I am also using any opportunity to teach the engineers basic electrical skills and talk through electrical wiring regulations instead of waiting for them to get a chance to attend a 2 days course. This has minimized UN-fixed electrical jobs left in the log book and has boosted some of the engineer’s confidence and mine, as I have noticed I am also learning while I am teaching.
